IRA Climate Justice Zones

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), along with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Justice40 Executive Order, and other new environmental justice executive orders, has created an historic opportunity to transition to cleaner, renewable energy in ways that not only reduce emissions, but also improve health and safety and create economic opportunity for a broad swath of Americans. Place-based groups representing communities of color and working-class communities have powerful visions for implementing these programs and are ready to provide the organizers, doers, builders, and connectors to make them come to life.

To meet this exciting opportunity — and match its urgent time scale — the Hive Fund is raising and beginning to deploy $100 million in a strategic, place-plus grantmaking approach that will drive billions more in public funding and private capital to community-led climate solutions at scale and build public support for more climate action.

Building on existing relationships and learnings from our grantee partner network, the Hive Fund is focusing on up to ten iconic IRA climate justice zones across the South. In each zone, we will provide both multiyear grants and coordination consultants to help groups collaborate, build partnerships, and access technical assistance, funding and other resources to move projects from shovel worthy to shovel ready, implement and scale them, and leverage their successes for long-term power building and policy change. These projects will also spur innovative financing models and approaches that can be shared across localities and regions, creating a powerful ripple effect.

Priority zones

Our priority zones include Houston, Atlanta, New Orleans, and rural northeastern North Carolina. In 2024, we are also beginning grantmaking in the river parishes of Louisiana and Albany, Georgia, and are actively exploring zones in the Port of Houston and Johnston County, NC.